Factors Hindering the Operation of the Non-farmland Notification System in Area of Agricultural Land

― From the results of a survey of all 20 municipalities in Ehime Prefecture ―

Abstract

The non-farmland notification operation is a system in which the Agricultural Commission notifies the owners of devastated agricultural land (Class B), which is expected to be difficult to recycle, as non-farmland. If a non-farmland notification is issued in area of agricultural land (AL), the land is excluded from the AL. In this study, we investigated the factors hindering the operation of the non-farmland notification system in AL through a questionnaire survey of all 20 municipalities in Ehime Prefecture. As a result, it was found that the factors hindering the operation in Ehime Prefecture are 1. Complexity of administrative procedures arising from modern land use problems such as unknown landowners and undetermined land boundaries, 2. The need to take into consideration the maintenance of cooperative relationships between farmers and local governments due to the unclear criteria for B classification, 3. Difficulty for the government to provide management guidance to sloping farmland because it is excluded from blue land, and 4. Concern in utilizing sloped farmland for other uses.